Glass Worlds
by electricfires
Summary: An exploration into the character of Loki. Through extrodinary circumstances, Loki meets a defiant and injured midguardian who allows him to unearth things he long ago burried. However she hides secrets that somehow manage to distort both of their world's...
1. Chapter 1

_Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read my little collection of words on this big site. This is my first proper fanfiction and so feedback would be greatly apprechiated. I would also like to appologise in advance for my grammar. I have checked it as many times as is humanly possible but it still may not be the best. _

_This story is set in an alternate timeline where The first Thor film happened, but Loki was punished differantly at the end and therefore never formed that allegience with the Chitauri. Hopefully you will see what i mean but if not then please leave a comment or message me and i will be happy to get back to you, and make any necessary changes. _

_Oh, i should mention that this story is rated M for future chapters which contain graphic violence and stong sexual content. _

_Enjoy! _

Asguard - Loki

He sat with his deep black hair falling softly over his eyes. He flicked it out the way, trying to concentrate on the book he held in his hands. He was so very bored. Sighing he laid the book down next to his feet, not bothering to mark the page as he knew he would never come back to it. He looked around his plush room; His bed was perfectly made and furniture exactly straight, The soft light of the fire he was sat next to made the shadows of this strange perfection dance untidily behind each object. There was nothing but the crackle of the flames and his thoughts to keep him company. He sighed again.

When Thor entered Loki's room he found his brother curled in the same chair, his head slumped to one side in fitful sleep. Just as hewas about to clear his throat A voice shattered the silence.

"What." Loki's dull voice projected - a statement rather than a question- his eyes never opening.

"Loki, I am sorry to disturb you brother but there has been some trouble on Midguard and I was hoping you would accompany me?" Thor asked carefully.

"Could it not have waited until morning?" Loki retorted.

"If I could have put off disturbing you until then I would have." Thor chuckled.

Loki opened his eyes then and suddenly was not slumped on the chair in a dishevelled form but was standing right in front of Thor wearing his usual green, gold and black attire and a snide grin, having seemingly vanished from the chair.

"Well then, we better not keep _father_ waiting." He smiled poisonously, with a hissed exaggeration on the word father. Thor looked sullenly at Loki then, with all the expression in his eyes of a conversation he didn't know how to start. He turned and began walking; Loki paused for a minute and then slowly followed.

Earth - Aella

I fought hard with all my strength. Although what little might I possessed was nothing compared to these creatures. I fought as if it was the last battle I would ever be in. Because it may well be. They had come from the clouds descended upon the hapless city of London with no explanation, nothing. They simply fallen from the dark skies and begun to kill. I had slung my gun over my shoulder and picked up my axe with a gritted smile, knowing as I always did there was nobody to miss me if I did not return. They flew through the sky tearing down buildings and swarming on crowds ripping civilians limb from limb. I had stepped into the street and immediately fired my first shot. I had continued to fire, if one fell I would finish it with my Axe. I took no prisoners.

I was a part of government agency that dealt with such creatures. I knew of monsters in the skies that could give a man who had seen every horror of earth nightmares. I was still afraid, but I liked to think of myself as prepared.

I continued to fight ruthlessly, each second counted. Shot after shot echoed through my ears and more and more of these creatures fell. My face was stoic. I saw a creature right above, it had slowed near a window of a high building. I saw the faces of the people inside turn to terror or submission after realising their fate. I cocked my gun and aimed, I was too slow. The creature must have had finer hearing than I had imagined, its head turned abruptly and suddenly it was falling towards me. It's Face was contorted in malice and it's clawed hands extended in vengeance. I closed my eyes.

Midguard – Loki

I stood back and admired the scene before me. Hapless humans ran back and forth like tiny insects following a lost pheromone trail. They had no idea what was going on. I smiled. I felt Thor's glare at my grin and so I smiled wider showing my teeth.

"Loki, show some respect." Thor growled. His face dripping with compassion for these creatures. How sickening, my smile faded.

Thor had fought like a true asgardian, he threw himself into the battle killing creature after creature. His face showed no signs of enjoyment. Only determination. I had sat back and watched the flames, watched these tiny humans panic and run. However despite their incompetence the army of Asgardians was too great a match for the Chitauri and their broken army had retreated back into the sky.

I walked through the bodies of the fallen on the street. All had died trying to run. Not one had tried to put up a fight. I could not understand how an entire race could be so cowardly. I tapped the shoulder of a female with my boot. Pathetic creatures. A moan of pain filled the heavy air. I looked down then. This woman was beautiful, for a midguardian. Her hair was coal black, and her features perfectly symmetrical. Her red lips were slightly parted, and her eyes even though they were closed were knotted in pain. I looked at this woman then, her body was slim and athletic and she looked to have a tall frame. I did not care about this, what really intrigued me was the bloodied axe she held in her right hand and large gun haphazardly tossed over her shoulder.

"This one did not go down without a fight." I spoke quietly to myself. For some reason I felt oddly incaptivated by this woman. Her defiance. The fact she looked so similar to those around her but was so vastly different. The idea of this anomaly of the human race dying by my feet pulled at something in my head, told me to help. I grimaced. Why should I care? Why should I care about this weak mitguardian? I should not. She was nothing, she was just another human. I felt my rage creep out of my head and wind its way into my features. My lips curled down and my eyes set. I turned briskly and began to walk away. I had not gone but five steps when I heard her faintly moan in pain. It was the kind of accidental noise of hurt made when you are unaware that anybody can hear you. I spun back around on my heels and angrily flung her over my shoulder. Rubble and dust fell off her limp body.

"You will regret this day, you feeble child of a weak race. If you are not thankful I will make you sorry I ever picked you up from the dirt." I spat angrily.


	2. Chapter Two

Asguard - Aella

The pain is what awoke me. It was a terrible throbbing thing that radiated all over my body, but accumulated in my head. I tried to open my eyes, but the light that I felt from beyond them felt like acid in a wound. I abruptly shut my eyes and groaned. Suddenly memories of why I was in pain came flooding back, the creatures, where were they now? Where was I now? The instinct to open my eyes over powered everything else and without further thought my eyes shot open and my pain spiked. I winced. The room was dark; the only light around me was from a small fire adjacent to where I lay. I looked down; I was lying on a plush bed in nothing but a bath robe. I didn't own a bathrobe how did I get in a bathrobe? I felt suddenly panicked, where was i? I swung my legs to the side of the bed and my feet met a cold wooden floor. With broken steps I made my way to the window by the side of the bed and looked out. All was dark. I would find no answers to my location out of this window. Grasping the windowsill I looked further around. My training kicked in and I looked for an escape. The high walls and ceiling offered no answer and a tug at a window led me to conclude that was locked. Then my tired eyes noticed there by the fire was a large wooden door. I stumbled towards it my body screaming in protest. Every step was agony and each wave of discomfort shot straight to my head which pulsed with dull thrums of dizziness coupled with a fierce sting .With each step my vision became more and more blurred until I found myself falling, my weak legs unable to hold my fragile body upright and my fuzzy eyes unable to stay focused. As I fell my hand grazed the door handle and i could almost feel the uncertainty. Then my head hit the floor and for the second time in my recent memories, the darkness consumed me.

Asguard – Loki

"What in your right mind possessed you to kidnap this woman, Loki?" Thor shouted angrily. I knew it would annoy him if I acted with disdain for his bout of emotion, so I allowed a bored expression to creep over my face, then looked up at him and said, "I don't know what you are referring to."

"You know damn well what I am referring too," Thor spat. "The woman who lies wounded in your chamber as we speak."

"Oh, her." I shrugged indignantly, "I simply wanted to help."

"Since when do you want to help mortals? This woman is dying Loki. Why would you bring a dying mortal to Asguard?" Thor questioned fiercely.

"Oh don't be so pessimistic, she will recover. I simply thought she had a better chance of recovering here. She can return to midguard when she is healed." I answered coolly.

"You better stand by your words brother. I will not see you disrespect this woman." Thor glared at me authoritatively. I raised one eyebrow at him and said allowing more malice into my voice,

"Well _'brother'_ when have I never honoured my word?"

Thor laughed then, a single cold chuckle.

"Come Loki I do not have all day. Let us end this argument, just be sure to look after her. I cannot understand why you have made this decision but I will at least ensure that you honour it."

"I will ensure she returns to Midguard. I don't want a mortal in my care anyway. Fragile creatures." I retorted.

"Enough," Thor barked with an empty smile, "just see to her now. I do not want her neglected."

"As you wish 'your highness'" I said with as much sarcasm as I could load into the comment before turning and listening to my echoing footsteps as I left the room.

I walked with purpose down the corridor towards the large oak door of my chamber. My strides unknowingly quickened as I approached and I found myself feeling, anxious? No I was not anxious. I reached the oak frame and quietly pushed open the door. I had only pushed it a little way when it refused to budge any further. I gave it a harsh push and heard a heavy 'thump' on the other side. Curiously I slipped through the small gap and saw the girl lying at my feet. I was not expecting this. I did not know what I had been expecting to be quite honest. Gently I picked the girl up and laid her on the bed as if she might break. Her face looked pale and her breathing was ragged. Without a glance back at her I slunk back out into the stone corridor and shouted unashamedly for help.

Asguard – Aella

Some primal part of my body awoke me and urged for me to stay very still and not to open my eyes. I obeyed. I had a horrible feeling that somebody was watching me. I heard a rustle of fabric as if something was moving, then a few light footsteps towards my direction. I held very still.

"I know you are awake." A strange voice spoke softly. It was an odd voice. It seemed so very self-assured, and it was in no way comforting. The voice did not sound in control, it sounded as if anger was only seconds from the surface, and something deeper and more intrinsic like pain only a small way beyond that. I sucked in a sharp intake of air in my fear then cursed myself for it.

The voice chuckled, colder this time.

"My pretty young thing, open your eyes. They are the one part of you I am yet to see."

This caught my attention and my eyes abruptly opened the same time that I sat up.

I saw him then, my captor. He was tall and slim and dressed in a long black and green coat, gold adorned his arms. He wore the clothing of a warrior. His hair was as black as the consuming darkness and his face pale with sleepless nights. His eyes were a piercing green. He didn't look bad… I stopped myself mid-thought. He was my enemy, my captor. I did not know who he was. My glare turned steely on remembering his comment.

"What do you mean only part you are yet to see?" I demanded, my anger flaring through me, forgetting he could potentially be dangerous.

"Well who do you think took you out of those dishevelled rags you were wearing?" He grinned flashing a row of perfect white teeth and a very self-confident smile.

I stiffened. "Where am I, and who are you?" I had not meant to sound so weak and victimised. I cursed myself inwardly.

He frowned slightly at my question then spoke icily. "I found you dying in the street. I brought you back here to my home to heal you. You may return to midguard as soon as you are healed."

I echoed his frown and calmed myself before answering in a much more controlled voice, "You did not answer my question, who are you and where am I?"

He smiled then. "You have fire, I like that."

His comment made me uncomfortable and this fuelled my anger. "Answer the questions." I threw the words like knives.

His smile widened and his eyes hinted at a certain mischief I had not yet seen in him. "Are you telling me you do not know who I am?" He asked in mock distress.

"That is exactly what I am telling you." I said through gritted teeth. Trying to remind myself to keep a lid on my anger so as not to provoke him. I still did not know what he was capable of.

"I am Loki of Asguard ." He said expectantly.

"Asguard…" I replied the cogs grinding in my aching brain. "What am I doing on Asguard?"

"Have you not been listening? I rescued you, an act you have not yet thanked me for." He replied some of the playfulness leaving his eyes quickly and instantly being replaced by some of that earlier anger I had guessed at. I gulped. He seemed unpredictable. That was never a good sign. But I would not be so quickly beaten into submission.

"I will not thank you until I am aware of your motives." I said cautiously but with determination.

He glared then, and I saw so much anger and hurt in his eyes. I suddenly did not care who he was. I knew that pain. My thoughts were interrupted by further clouding of his features.

"I could send you back like this. Leave you on the streets. You would die there. Must you really question me? I saved your life. You are in my debt; you owe me your life. And if you continue to be a little bitch then I will leave you. You are just a mortal anyway, no good to anybody." He hissed.

"I owe you nothing." I said defiantly. "I did not asked to be saved."

He looked at me then, with those green eyes. Such an icy fire raged within them. I hunched my body up in a defensive position, fearful of how he may act in this new found anger. He leaned towards me, all the while those eyes pieced into my own with such a fierce intensity.

"You owe me everything." He said in such an even tone it frightened me. Then he leant up, avoiding my eyes, turned and walked out of the room, quietly shutting the door on his way out. I did not lose my defensive stance. There was something unpredictable and wild about this man, Loki. Something I was drawn to, but did not trust.


	3. Chapter 3

Asguard – Thor

I heard him before I saw him. Like a raging storm he crashed into the room, his anger hung like a cloud above his head.

"Bitch." He mumbled under his breath, a steely glare cast over his face.

"Brother, I sense this woman has brought you trouble." I gently said, trying not to anger him further.

He looked at me with repulsion. "This mortal has declared how ungrateful she is to me. I don't know why I did not just leave her there to die, why did I pick her up brother?" he asked, anger barley masking his confusion.

"I do not know Loki. Perhaps you just wanted to help, that is what you told me earlier."

"When have I ever cared for those mortal scum?" He spat.

"I do not know the answers to your questions. Maybe you saw something in her that day. Something you yourself do not yet understand."

He looked at me then as if I were the scum he spoke of.

"Well of course I did, or I would not have brought her here. I can see you will as usual be of no help to me." He hissed, that fire still burning among his features.

"Maybe you should consult mother. She knows you better than anybody here. She will have your answers." I assured him. He looked up at me then, and looked me up and down as if in approval of my words, before casting out the room once more.

"I have never in all my time seen Him in such a state." I said to nobody in particular, before slowly walking out the room leaving it empty.

Asguard – Loki

I knew that Thor was right. If anybody had any chance of helping me if was my mother. Although a part of me continued to tell me she would just tell me what I already knew. I knew I had picked that girl up from the dust because I saw something of my own defiance in her, and the part of me that felt like an outcast. I was not like the people who surrounded me. I am a frost giant. I stopped walking then and sighed, pretending to look at one of the tapestries on the wall. I don't know who I was pretending too, I was alone. Or at least I thought I was. I lifted my head but did not turn around.

"There are very few people who could sneak up on me like that." I said to the wall. I felt the person behind me stiffen in surprise.

" I did not know you were here, if I had I would have gone another way." She spoke softly, equal amounts of rage and fear in her voice.

I turned around then and saw her, the woman I had not seconds ago been thinking about.

"What is it about me that you dislike so?" I asked her, not moving from my spot.

She looked at me then in disgust, it pulled at something in me, made me feel, sad? No not sad it was merely surprise a mortal could hate me, a god, her superior so much. I felt my eyes turn steely and fix themselves upon her then of their own accord my feet began to make their way towards her until I was centimetres from her. I towed over her, and used my height as power.

"You and I have more in common than you suspect." Now it was her turn for her eyes to turn dark. She stepped back a pace, her eyes never leaving mine.

"We have nothing in common. We are different people, I am from a completely different planet to you. I would never take somebody away from their home without asking. I would never look at another with such disgust as you look at me." She cried. I saw some of the anger in her eyes break for a second, and in that second I saw the pain she was trying to mask. I stepped forward and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Was that place really your home?" I asked. "Did you have a family, friends. Somebody to go home to at night?"

"Of course." She said to quickly. The words sounded like a reflex rather than an answer. I felt her shoulders slump under my hand. " yes.. I think so." She said again. I said nothing but raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. "We have only just met, and yet you are able to know the thing I have hidden all my life." She said, almost in awe.

She looked up at me then and I really noticed her eyes, her glorious yellow eyes. They burned bright with the fire of indifference. Throughout her life I doubted she had ever felt love for another. I doubted she had ever had a place to call her own. Yet the pain and anger in those yellow eyes. They promised something more. They promised a more intricate past. Something about her then took me aback. Made me want to keep her here, because that same expression is the same one I had seen in myself in the mornings I had braved looking in the mirror. I continued to stare into her eyes, looking for answers, yet taking comfort she was still standing, she had not given up. If she had stayed strong I could too.


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm so sorry for not posting for quite some time, but I am back now, and have many more chapters lined up for you all! I have been working particularly hard on Chapter five which will be posted very soon! _

_Again sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes, I have no Beta. _

_WARNING for this chapter, it depicts some non-consensual sexual scenes (not graphically) so if you are sensitive to these issues, please be warned. _

Asguard- Aella

His green eyes were fixed on my own. His eyes must have mirrored mine because he stared into them like a blind man may stare at his own reflection for the first time. I saw the hint of a smile tweak at his lips. Then I spoke.

"You see these things in me, you see my problems, yet I see your own. You do not feel you belong here. Something about here makes you afraid, broken. What is it?" I asked with genuine interest.

He smiled then, a false smile. It was a smile that took the attention away from the pain in his eyes.

"My dear, that is a conversation for another day." He spoke softly. "Would you care for me to accompany you to my room, you must rest. You are still so..." He trailed off, looking for the right words, before saying "Weak."

"I will accompany you, if you stop referring to me as that. Because I am not weak." I hissed.

"Well if you are not weak I'm sure you will be able to stand perfectly as soon as I remove my arms from you." He chuckled. I said nothing. I only allowed him to continue supporting me with his strong grip as we walked back down the corridor to that old oak door which hid a room that no longer felt like such a prison.

Asguard – Loki

I watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest for a while. I prayed that she would soon recover. After I was sure she would continue to breathe I stepped away from the edge of the bed and sat in the chair by the fire. I picked up the book I had abandoned not but a day ago and thumbed through it looking for my lost page. I half read the book, only taking in every other word, I was so consciously listening for her breath. Making sure it didn't stop. I wanted to stop being so paranoid. She was recovering. She would be fine. I looked into the raging chaos of the flames. Watched them consume all in their path without thought that if they consumed everything they too would die. The more I watched this dance of death the more my thoughts began to slip away from me, until for the first time in my memory I fell into a sleep that was colourful, filled with dreams that held new promise. These dreams danced under my eyelids, showing me glimpse after glimpse of those wonderful yellow eyes.

Asguard – Aella

My dreams should have been happy that night. They should have shown my mischievous God's face. Because he was all I could think about. Instead they showed me all the reasons I didn't deserve him. They showed me all the brutality from my past. They showed me that nobody had ever loved me before, made me think this time was no different. Then they showed me the one thing I had been trying to erase from my memory. The one time I was weak. If Loki ever found out about this I doubt he would ever want me. I didn't want me for what had happened. My head spun with the memory. That dark time twisted into my dreams like a damp fog. Mixing the memory with transcendent reality. Until I was reliving it.

I had been walking home one night. The streets were dark all but for a few fading Orange Street lights. It was cold. I remember pulling my jumper tighter around myself. I was walking home to an empty flat, so I was in no rush. Then something caught my eye, a flash of movement behind me. I had just started my training at this point in my life, so I was immediately stopped and moved myself into a defensive crouch. That was my first mistake. I should have run. I was fast, I was agile I could have run up the old stairwell by the side of my building and been in the flat with the doors locked and police called before he could have lain a hand on me. But I did not do any of the things I should have. I called out. Taunted whoever was there to make a move. They listened to me, and the dark figure had clamped a gloved hand over my mouth and pulled my arms behind my back. I bit into the gloves as hard as I could, but he had clearly been anticipating this as the gloves were thick and my teeth never reached his skin. I had kicked with my legs, desperately trying to break free. Swung my arms just in the right way to break loose. But he had grabbed them and tied them together. I remember crying then. Hot tears. They made it seem more real. In this dark back road nobody cared and nobody herd as he carried my wailing form into a building as grey and damp as his morals. He had thrown me on a hard bed. Bound me there. Bound everything but my mouth. He said he had wanted to hear me cry. And I had tried so hard to be strong and to not give him what he wanted. But I was not strong enough. I cried and screamed and begged him to stop a thousand times. I knew he never would. And I was right. He had raped me that night. Held me down and stole my innocence from me. He even told me his name. James. He said I could do what I wanted with his name, I would never find him again. Then naked and cold he had thrown me into the streets with bloodied wrists and ankles. It was still dark. He said I could do anything with his name. I kept it a secret. It was my secret. Keeping it that way felt like the only way to stay strong. I remember crawling back to my apartment, and crying. I had cried and cried. There were times where I felt like I would never stop. But I had eventually. I had packed my few belongings into a box and moved to the other side of the city. I had to stay there for my work, but I had never gone back down that street. Until tonight in my dreams. My dreams forced me to stand there in the middle of that street. Forced me to ask myself why I did not run. Forced me to tell myself that this is why I could not stay here with Loki. I was tainted. Why would a god want tainted goods. My dreams reminded me of all the times I had held my gun to my head and wept. They reminded me of all the times I had taken a knife and held it to my wrist and considered letting the pain out that way. I sat in my cold memories. The wind of that night making me want to wrap my jumper around myself again.

"Why did you not."

I turned in my dream. He was stood in the street. Loki.

I knew this was a dream now, I was certain it was not reality. Because if it was loki and he had seen my past, he would have run. So I humoured myself and I spoke to him, in my sleep. I spoke to Loki.

"I did not want my past to define me." I answered. He looked at me with pain in his eyes. Urging me to continue. So I did.

"I did not want a memory, something I could keep in my head making it's marks on my skin. I had escaped him. Why give myself to his memories? Why allow him to win? Loki if there is one thing you should know of me, Know this. I will never go down without a fight, and I will never give into those memories, even though you are right. I have nobody to stay strong for but myself, I have no home but in my head. I have never loved." My voice trailed off. I wanted to cry, I wanted to break down in this street where my life had been destroyed. But I did not. I stuck my head up defiantly and simply allowed the pain to mix with the gritted determination and allow this to lift my head higher and higher until I was not crouched over, I was stood tall and defiant in this street, allowing my own words to sink in. I would not give in. I looked over at Loki, he looked over at me and said,

"My my, you are an enigma. You are so different, you are so strong." His green eyes locked onto mine then and he began to walk towards me. " Know this of me child, I will not give up on anything that I feel is worthy of my attention, worthy of my time. And I will never give up on you. You say nobody cares. You may say that no more. I care. I will always care." In my dream he was inches from me, he walked closed and ran his fingers through my tasselled hair. He moved his head down towards my own.

"Wake up. " He whispered into my ear.

I obeyed. I opened my eyes quickly, trying to remind myself it was all a dream, Loki didn't know, I was fine. But when I looked around I was not so sure of the latter. Loki was sat by me, running his fingers through my hair. He was knelt by the side of the bed with an icy ferocity in his eyes. I looked down at him and whispered his name. He looked up at me then. A coldness creeping over his face.

"Why did you think I would not care?" He muttered. Accusing me rather than questioning me.

"You have made it clear you hate the weak, and that was my weakest moment." I replied.

"But you were not weak." He shouted. His fingers stopped running through my hair and clamped themselves into fists. He stood up and went and stood by the fire, his back to me. I wanted to walk up behind him and hug him and whisper not to be angry. But instead I sat. And then I realised.

"How did you find out?" It was my turn to accuse him. He did not answer; he just put one arm on the mantle above the fire and leaned into it, making him seem defenceless.

"How did you find out?" I said slowly and more evenly, barley controlling my anger. My anger that masked my fear.

He spoke quietly. "You were calling in your sleep, you called for my help, but when I shook you, you did not wake. I did not know what to do." He paused, as if to test that I was listening. I was. He continued. "I can enter a person's mind, learn of their fears, what makes them tick. When I could not awake you, I entered your dream. I found you stuck in a street in your head and then…." He trailed off then. Hoping I would fill in the blanks. I did.

"So you were there? I spoke to you?" I asked. He turned around.

"Are you not angry?" He asked quizzically, his face showing genuine surprise.

"Are you not running from me?" I asked tiredly.

"It would appear we still have much to learn about each other." He said a smirk creeping onto his lips and lighting up his eyes that danced with that same mischief I had seen on our first encounter.


	5. Chapter 5

Asguard – Loki

I watched her for longer than was necessary after she had fallen asleep again. I didn't know how she could sleep, if those were the kinds of dreams that plagued her. I suddenly felt heart wrenchingly sad for this girl. I stood slowly up, I had to get out. I padded slowly to the large oaken door, making sure there was enough wood on the fire to keep it burning in my absence. There was half a log, it would be enough. I shut the heavy door behind me and let everything flood my brain at once. This strong strong girl, who had continued to fight only for herself,. She had experienced the worst of her abysmal race and I hated humanity then. I slammed my balled up fist into the wall, glass shattering around me as some intricate piece fell to the floor curdling around my feet in tiny unrecognisable fragments. Those insignificant specs on a world they had destroyed. Their lives were over in the blink of an eye and yet they thought themselves self-important somehow. They had no right. And one of these disgusting creatures had taken my … I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn't even know her name – this mortal that I could not stop thinking about and I didn't even know her name. I cursed silently under my breath and sank against the floor amongst the broken glass.

"Get a grip." I muttered to myself with more ferocity than I intended.

"Loki." The cold word was issued as a command in the harsh voice. My head shot up and I looked to see my mother standing, watching me disapprovingly at me from the end of the stone passage.

"Such reckless behaviour will win you no favours in the court, especially at this time of night when those of a respectable nature are trying to sleep." She spoke collectively, but there was an undertone to her words, as if they were meaningless on her tongue and in fact not the ones she wished to speak to me.

"Well, nobody in this dishevelled pit is respectable enough to sleep at this time, they're all out at banquets fighting and fucking with one another." I spat, my gaze not meeting hers, fixed instead on the erratic shadows cast by the flame torch on the wall. My shadow pushed and pulled this way and that over the broken glass by the fire.

My mother said nothing. She just looked at me knowingly. This angered me more, how could she possibly know what I felt when I did not know myself. And then the thought I had been fighting tormented me with cruel venomous lips.

"_She isn't really your mother_." It sang. It reminded me I didn't belong. This is why I hid from everybody, after learning my true parentage I felt lost and lied to and.. I slammed my fist down onto the floor, an uneven crunch splayed around me as I ground the coloured dust into the unforgiving stone. She stood there for a while longer before saying quietly and more tenderly, "I'll be in the hall if you want to talk loki." With that she slowly turned the fabric of her dress and clack of her shoes on the stone gradly fading as she headed towards the hall at the end of the coridoor.

I sighed and held up my hand, as I lifted it I noticed the dark blood leaking down my hand and tiny fragments of the coloured glass embedded into my pale skin. I held it up and let the blood splash onto the floor in a constant pattern. I sat there for who knows how long before I decided to let my stubbornness get the better of me and I walked in the opposite direction to my mother intending to head the courtyard to get some fresh air. I thought about heading back to the girl, but for some reason the thought of doing this made me angry. I didn't want to see her. I didn't want to. I kept telling myself this as if repeating it would make it correct.

Asguard –Aella

I awoke with a start, expecting to see Loki standing near me as he always was when I awoke. When I didn't see him I felt an odd feeling tighten around my throat, panic? Anxiety? One of these emotions choked me and I sank down into the covers hoping to fall back to sleep and awake with him standing by the fire. Suddenly I caught a glimmer of movement over in the chair by the fire. I sat up with a start and my hand instinctively went to my hip where my gun belt would have been. I grasped at the soft material of the dressing gown where it should have been, suddenly aware of my surroundings.

"There is no need to panic so, I won't hurt you." The voice sounded old, it gave me the impression that it had spoken many words that I couldn't possibly hope to learn in my short lifetime. The owner of the voice turned then. It was the face of a woman. Her eyes held the same world weary tone as her voice, her mouth was pulled into a friendly line that all but screamed of composure. She gave the impression she could convincingly tell you one thing and mean another entirely, and she was shrouded in formality it was hard to tell where that ended and she began. But either way, she did not seem a threat and so I relaxed, my muscles loosening from the tense crouch they had been forming.

"Hello." I spoke tentatively not sure of what to say to her. Her face did not change, her eyes seemed to be imploring me to say more, so I did.

"My name is Aella, Loki brought me here," Her eyes seemed to tighten into a confused frown at the mention of Loki, "I'm not sure why though." I added quietly more for my benefit than for hers.

"Neither am I child." She spoke again. " Loki barley takes an interest in anybody from asguard, so you can imagine our surprise when he brought you to our gates." I sat there guiltily looking at my hands, she spoke of me rather than to me, and when she was speaking to me I felt like she was talking of a puzzle or some helpless creature to be dissected so to find out more about it. It made me feel small and unwanted.

"I think Loki is taking me back to Ear.. Mitguard as soon as I am healed." I said so to try and regain some sort of control back over the conversation. The Woman laughed then, the cold noise pierced the dry air.

"Oh if I know my son as well as I claim to, he has none of that intent." She began evenly her gaze fixed on my eyes, testing me so she could gleam my reaction. I refused to appear weak in front of her.

"What makes you say that?" I asked with as much conviction as I could muster. I was beginning to feel tired again, that same initial pain I had felt when first waking here creeping slowly through my bones, trying to twist my limbs into distorted positions. I ignored it trying to focus on this woman. I must focus on her, she said she was Loki's mother – maybe she could tell me more about him, more about why I was here. I had to stay focused

"He has never taken an interest in anybody before. Preferring to learn of our science and hide himself away in the Library. I have always wanted him to find somebody who's company he can tolerate." She confessed to me, somewhat wistfully. I was trying to take this in, trying desperately but my cloudy head was pulling me deeper and deeper into the darkness. Focus I told myself. Focus. My vision blurred, I could see the woman rise from the chair herd her say something, but it was like being underwater. Her words were muffled by the pain. I was aware of the woman shouting then, and a damp sticky sensation on my hands, I looked down at them with my hazy eyes and saw them covered in red. Everything was fading. Everything hurt. I tried to scream, but the agony never made it to my lips and everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

Asguard – Loki

I was a sea of anger. Every fibre of my being willed me to scream, to destroy, to run. I had never been this angry before. A voice in my head told me this was because I had only ever been angry for myself before, and now I was angry for her. It had just hit me that my strong mitguardian was made to feel weak. But even then she was so defiant. I was angry for her, as she seemed incapable. I would find the mortal who did this too her. Make him pay in the way he deserved to. A cruel smile played against lips, dragging the corners of my mouth into a familiar twisted smirk. The anger fuelled my plan, adding detail after tantalising detail until I had thought of a way to make this_ James (_The bitter name sounded acidic in my mind) Suffer in the way he deserved.

Asguard - Thor

"Mother" I called out. She turned her eyes wide and panicked in a way I had rarely seen them. She was normally so guarded. But not now.

"What is of Loki's girl?" I asked. She tusked then. "You men," She paused, "So crass." She spoke sadly then, her voice was drawn out and slow. It was then than she looked back down at the girl laying down on Loki's plush bed. She looked so pale.

"She looks pale." I said, noticing her gaze. "Has she woken?"

She looked up at me then such sadness in her eyes.

"I don't know that she will make it. Her body is too weak for our medicine. It will break her apart. And so we are helpless to just lie here and watch her die." A sob caught in her throat. I looked at the girl then, her hair was as raven as Loki's and her skin just as smooth. She had scars and cuts that would make many of our own warriors proud to bear. And in her fragile human state I saw something of Jane. Something of her detachment from her race. An independence.

"We have to save her mother, for Loki." I said suddenly. The abruptness of my words startling me. My mother looked at me then, with the same gaze she looked upon me with as a child when I wished to fly among the stars or told her of my tales to lead father's Army's to the home of the frost giants. I knew know this gaze was meant only for me, to tell me it was possible, it was meant to assure me to such a degree that I would not see her own doubt. But I was not a child anymore. I saw the doubt ebb at her features.

I spoke again "It will destroy him if she dies." I paused letting my words settle over her. "She is the only thing he has ever chosen. It will crush him." The last words came out as a plea, I did not know what to do, but mother always knew when it came to Loki, always. A hardness settled over her eyes and her blonde hair hung limply forward over her ears. "Thor my boy, my warrior. You have always known what you want to fight for, your brother never has. Not as a child, not now. If she is to go he will be sad, but it will not destroy him. He will be back to where he always was."

"He has always been lost." I interjected, angry that she couldn't see this.

"Then he will have to be lost again." My mother shouted. Her fists balled the sheets and her breathing became ragged. "Thor." She said with such heaviness in her voice it frightened me. "So much has changed now. I don't know if it can ever be the same, he will be even more lost than before." She was cut off then by the rustling of the sheets beneath her hands. The girl's leg twitched gently and in a broken and sleepy voice she called softly, "Loki."

This seemed to shine a new light in my mother's eyes. They lit up only to return quickly with a darkness I knew all too well. "Where is Loki, Thor?" She questioned like clockwork. "Why is he not beside her?" She asked, her voice masking the panic I knew she felt towards him. He was always an anomaly, and she constantly worried over him in private to Father. I knew of this, I herd their hushed words and worried tones throughout my childhood, Littering stone passages and hiding behind heavy doors.

"I'll go to Heimdall now." I said, already walking through the doors.

This seemed to satisfy her, as she sunk lower into her chair, shutting her eyes slowly. She looked old then, I turned slowly to look at her, before heading with purpose to the bi-frost.

Mitguard – Loki

It was hard to admit to myself that I did not know where I was going, I had used the memories I had gleamed from Aella's head. They would have to be enough. I had persuaded Heimdall to allow be access to mitguard by using my acclaimed silver tongue. I chuckled to myself. You simply had to mention _All father_ to that man and he turned into a mewling puppy. Such an easy man to manipulate. My head suddenly jerked up, something seemed familiar. The cobbles on the street. I smiled to myself I was here, this was the street. I'd had to blend into the mitguardian way of dressing; I was wearing black jeans, a deep green button up shirt and a faded dark leather jacket. The familiarity of the leather provided something akin to comfort in this young and tired world. The night air here was damp and cold. Small gusts of bitter wind blew debris and waste around my feet. I allowed the revulsion to show on my face. Such a feeble planet. The lights above me on their flimsy metal poles crackled with each faint gust of the wind (which to me seemed not of any note, but I knew to others would be cold). And then, from an ally of the greying buildings, I herd the noise I had been waiting for. Shuffling footsteps. I stopped walking and pulled my shoulders up to their full height. I let my trademark smirk dance across my face, here now in this moment. This is what I was born to do. I was born to let my mind work for her, and by doing that, for me. My smile wavered then guilt and the unknown pulled at me in a way that it never had before. I shoved this jumble of confusion deep down inside me, to unravel later, as for now, I had some unfinished business to attend to. I called as she had done.

"James is it?"

The footsteps stopped. I felt whoever it was behind me reach for something.

I laughed, "You hope to attack me, with that." I spun around to face him. He was an ugly man. He had an unbalanced body; every element of him was simply, wrong. His head did not quite fit his large frame and broad shoulders and his limbs disproportionately long to his torso. His head was shaven and his eyes glinting with fear under the orange flickering light. A blade just as short and ugly was clenched tightly in his right hand. He was trying to conceal it under his jacket, but failing miserably. His body was pressed against the wall in such a way as to hide him entirely in the shadows. It was a well-practiced move, it told of countless nights stood in that spot, waiting for somebody to use this narrow street as a short cut from one end of this damp city to the next. I hated him more. I'd bet that nobody had ever seen his face. Always concealed by shadows. This disgusting cowardly beast who dared to drag her life down with his repugnant existence. I felt my eyebrows knit together and my feet turn me the remaining few degrees to face him, then of their own accord they walked towards him, I paused for a second.

"It is James isn't it?" I asked cockily, then recognising the fear in his eyes at the mention of his name, taking my time, I walked steadily towards him.

Asguard – Aella

My head was pounding and everything was on fire. Each thrum of my pulse sent the heat racing through my body and electric shocks through my bones. I felt like I was coming undone. What was wrong with me? I had not been beaten that badly by the monsters from the sky, this could not have just been that could it? This darkness this fire, could this just be from them? I tried to shut these questions out, each thought was a pin in my head, and the thoughts were flooding me. Then the images of him came, his green eyes and his dark smile, and his rage. His unimaginable rage that to me seemed to be just as mask for something deeper and more intrinsic. And then in the darkness I found something that ebbed the pain, him. This didn't make any sense. I had condemned myself to a life of never finding somebody who would relate to the chaos and haphazard way that my mind worked. It was as if it was a clock that a watchmaker had stumbled upon late at night, and with no real purpose or drive to fix the clock, he had rewired it all in new ways, just to see if he could. And my wires seemed to have been coming undone of late. But then I met him, my green eyed God. And I saw so much of me in him. The way he would tap his fingers against his leg when the pain overtook him to take the attention of his fallen face, and when he stood so tall, he had a long way to fall. I wanted to help him in the way he had helped me.

"_You owe me everything" _

His words hit me, harder than the pain that racked through me, rendering me blind. I had dismissed them earlier as crude and cocky words falling from an angry tongue, but I did owe him my life. He had chosen me and shown me that I was not the only one who dragged this burden behind me on an iron chain. And I had to show him this. I had to fight for him, I had too.

But I didn't know if I could. I had fallen so far into the dark it would be so easy to give in and let the ropey blackness drag me down than to fight against it back up. I didn't know if I could. But I owed it to him to try.

Asguard – Thor

"What do you mean you allowed him down to Mitguard unaccompanied?" I roared at Hemidall, after all these years of knowing my brother he could not be so fickle as to believe the lies that fell like honey from his mouth.

Hemidall looked unphased by my Anger and stared straight ahead. Even then I saw the widening of his bright eyes. The realisation that he had yet again allowed Loki to so callously trick him sunk in.

"He told me you would be along, right about now to accompany him and that you both had the All father's permission." He replied stoically, still staring forward.

"And when had he ever told the truth?" I retorted. Still angry that somebody of his stature could be so easily maneuverered by Loki's words.

I sighed and turned in a half circle before slamming my foot into the ground angrily. What was Loki up to these days. I had never seen him behave in such an illogical manner before. He always had a reason, and this one was unclear to me. First he brings this girl to our gates for no seen reason, and now he returns to Mitguard without her while she lies dying on his bed. He certainly kept things interesting.

"Can you see him?" I asked Hemidall warily; afraid of what he might reply.

"I am looking for him now Odinson." He said distractedly, as if he hadn't heard my words at all. I paced the entrance to the gate quietly, pausing briefly to watch the pale reflection of the dark night skim across the rainbow bridge. It looked different in the night. In the day it looked solid and sturdy, a place to march heavy footed warriors down. But tonight it looked as if it could fall into the cresting waves below with a single command from the darkness. I stared at it for a while longer, hoping one day I might bring my Jane across it. She would love to see it at night, as I saw it now. She would like to look at the stars.

"Thor." Hemidall called, his voice strained. I turned my hand resting on my shoulder.

"I have found him," He paused momentarily as if struggling find words for what he was seeing, "And you are not going to be happy." He said with equal measures disbelief and disapproval in his voice.

Mitguard – Loki

" Please, stop leave me alone, I've got money." The man begged me. His breaths were fast and shallow and I herd the pain deliciously woven into his words.

"Did she beg you like this." I said coldly. I examined him before me. I had dragged him into a side building off the Ally way, the same one I had seen in her nightmare. He was before me now bound with thick and unmoving brown rope to a small and rickity chair and the cold stone floor around him was drizzled with his warm red blood. The only light entering the room came from a small rectangular window above the wooden door, and it was a dark night. Only the fake orange of the sulphur street lamps draped in, and even then not well.

"DID SHE?" I shouted when he took too long to reply, cutting a deep gash across his cheek as I did. He looked up at me then with dirty brown eyes and such obvious fear exposed in them.

"W.. who?" He shook out slowly, afraid of what his answer might provoke in me. If he was afraid, I would show him something to fear.

I allowed myself to laugh then, a dark and misleading thing. He dropped his gaze to the floor, like a submissive dog.

"She is the most beautiful girl you may ever have hoped to encounter." I said circling him like a predator might to prey. As I circled him I allowed his dagger which I held in my hands to trace his throat, He tensed as I continued my little game, still walking around and around him, the knife resting against his throat but not with enough pressure to draw blood.

"She is tall, with hair as dark as the night and eyes as strong as fire" I said, slowly and with meaning. I pushed harder down on the knife, still not drawing blood, but enough to cause discomfort.

"She is the strongest mitguardian I know, and You." I pasued in my speech and in my walk digging in with the knife on a point in the neck just below the ear, which I was taught was an incredibly sensistive part of any creature's body. He cried out as his blood ran smoothly down his neck and onto his shirt where it got caught in the fabric and pooled there.

"Made her feel weak." I finished. "Do you remember now?" I asked digging the knife harder into his neck.

"No, I swear to God I don't know what you are talking about." He shouted hurriedly, his words tumbling out quickly, eager to change my mind. But my mind was set.

"That's worse." I said quietly and evenly. I loosened the pressure on his neck. This took weight off the wound and the blood flowed more freely. He said nothing then, just whimpered softly. Then quickly, almost inaudibly he said

"She was the only one." I said nothing, hoping he would fill the silence with his corrupt confession. He did.

"Normally I just take money. B.. but." He trailed off.

"Continue." I said through gritted teeth. Holding back my anger. I wanted him to know he was a monster. I wanted him to die knowing what he was so he could never have the opportunity to think of himself as anything else.

"But there was som'thing about her. I still remember all of it." He chuckled then an uneducated and rough sound.

"Do you regret it?" I hissed at him.

"Yeah, of course." He said to quickly. But any fool could tell that was an ill practised lie. He couldn't even see he was a monster. And then a thought flared in my head, it whirled and danced and took over and plans of murder. It was perfect.

"Liar." I said smiling. I stepped closer to him and rested the knife on his jugular.

"were you not taught to say such awful things?" He looked confused. I dug the knife deeper into his throat wanting to see only fear on his face. He unwillingly obliged my silent request, his eyes widening and fingers clenching.

"You dared to taint her." I taunted him, allowed my anger into my voice now.

"What is mine? You will regret it_ mortal" _I spat. "And you cannot even see your wrong doing. You thought yourself totally justified, she didn't tell anyone so why should you worry?" I dug the knife deeper. Then suddenly I pulled the blade away and without warning I grabbed his hair and pulled his head back. He gasped in surprise. Then I slowly dragged the blade across his forehead. I listened to his screams as I pulled it tantalisingly across his head. I could hear the tear of his flesh and the gentle splash of blood onto the unforgiving floor. He had begun to cry and plead with me. He kept saying that he was sorry over and over again as if it were the only word he knew and he knew what it meant. But I did not stop until I had made a line all the way across his face. The line was curved in an arced U shape. I immediately started on another just below it, I carved this one faster than the first.

"W..wh. what are you doing to me?" He cried "I'm sorry, I am sorry." He spluttered on his own blood, tears and fear.

"I don't believe you" I said formally, as if addressing an everyday question.

"And, what am I doing to you? Well." I laughed a breathy laugh that wasn't too sure of itself, "I'm making you into a monster."


End file.
